CA1122516A

CA1122516A - Process for reconcentrating moist glycol

Info

Publication number: CA1122516A
Application number: CA305,999A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Walter Knobel
Original assignee: Davy McKee AG
Current assignee: Davy McKee AG
Priority date: 1977-06-25
Filing date: 1978-06-22
Publication date: 1982-04-27
Also published as: GB2000446B; FR2395243A1; DE2728745B1; GB2000446A; US4314891A; US4273620A

Abstract

ABSTRACT
A process is disclosed for reconcentrating a moist glycol, which is formed by treatment of moist natural gas with a glycol and possibly a low temperature cooling of the treated natural gas and subsequent three phase separation of the condensate resulting from such low temperature cooling, by heating to a temperature in the range of from about 100°C to about 210°C by heat exchange with a hot flue gas and stripping with a gas, wherein the moist glycol is stripped with dried flue gas or with hydrocarbon-containing gas resulting from the three stage separation.

Description

P~OCESS FOR RECONCENTRATING MOIST GLYCOL
.
The invention relates to a process for reconcen-trating a moist glycol, which is formed by treatment o~
moist natural gas with glycol and possibly a low-5. temperature cooling of the treated natural gas andsubsequen-t three-phase separation of the condensate formed with the low-temperature cooling, by heating to a temperature in the range from 100C to 210C by heat exchange with a hot ~lue gas and stripping with a gas.
10. When gases, more especially natural gas, are dried with a glycol, more especially triethylene glycol, water vapour is absorbed from the gas, a water-containing glycol being formed, from which the water has for the major part to be removed again for the purpose of once 15. again utilising the glycol for gas-drying purposes.
Accordingly, the glycol which contains water is generally heated, the major part of the water being vaporised and separated out and a concentrated glycol of low water content being obtained, which is returned 20. into the gas-drying stage. The heating o~ the moist glycol does not allow complete drying of the glycol~
but on account of the limitation of the heating temperature (about 205C ~ith triethylene glycol), only a drying up to about 99.0%. ~hen operating continuously, 25. higher heating temperatures lead to a partial thermal decomposition o~ the triethylene glycol, so that the ~' ~

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ad~antage of the higher reconcentra-tion is once again lost, on account of increased expense for the replace-ment of the glycol. ~Iowever, efforts are being made -to increase the concentration of the glycol still further, 5. because the residual moisture of the gas dried with glycol is smaller in proportion as the concentration of the glycol used for the drying is higher. It is thus possible, for example, when using a 99.9% -triethylene glycol instead of one which is only 99%, and a contact 10. temperàture with the gas to be dried of 20C 9 to reduce the dew point of the gas from about -20C to about -40C.
It is also kno~m to cool natural gas with a content of liquid hydrocarbons in the dried or undried state down to temperatures of, for example, from about -30C to about 15. 0C and thereby to condense and separate out the liquid hydrocarbons and the moisture possibly contained in the gas. With undried natural gas, dried glycol is for this purpose sprayed as hydrate inhibitor into the stream of natural gas and moist glycol and liquid hydrocarbon are 20. separated out after the expansion of the natural gas to the pipe line pressure. This moist glycol, ~ust as the moist glycol which is formed as described in the preceding paragraph as a result of the drying of the natural gas with glycol must be reconcentrated, is 25. treated to increase its concentration and is used for spraying or for absorption purposes.

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It is known to improve still ~urther the degree of drying of the thermally reconcentrated glycol by stripping wi-th a hea-ted dry gas. In this case there is used as stripping gas dried natural gas, which is heated 5. in the reboiler and is then brought into contact with the pre-concentrated glycol discharging frorn the reboiler ~nited States Patent Specification No. 3,105,748). The disadvantage of this process consists in that a part of the valuable product gas is consumed for stripping pur-~ate~ ~a pv~r 10. poses. `The stripping gas charged with the E~ iS
` generally blown off into the atmosphere or burnt. For avoiding this, the stripping gas can also be recirculated.
In this case, the stripping gas is cooled and an a~ueous phase is deposited in a separator. The stripping gas as 15. thus dried returns, together with supplementary gas, into the stripping section of the reconcentration plant (United States Patent Specification No. 3,867~112). It is true that the consumption of stripping gas and the con-tamination of the air are smaller in this case, but the 20. expense for the working up and recirculation of the stripping gas is considerable.
~ inally, it is known to carry out the absorption treatment of a moist, hydrocarbon-containing natural gas with a mixture of glycol and liquid hydrocarbon. The 25. moist glycol and the liquid hydrocarbon phase charged with volatile hydrocarbons are separated after being .

~Z2~16 heated and the hydrocarbon phase is combined with the hot glycol in the stabiliser section o~ the regeneration plant. The volatile hydrocarbons are thereby driven o~f from the liquid hydrocarbon phase and cause a ~urther 5. concentration of the pre-concentrated glycol, while the stabilised hydrocarbon liquid returns together with the dried glycol into the absorption stage tUnited States Patent Specification No. 3,321,890). With this operating procedure, it is necessary to have ~oint circula~ion of 10. glycol and hydrocarbon liquid between the absorption stage and ~he regeneration stage, this being a procedure with which generally the glycol reaches a foaming con-dition during the regeneration.
The present invention seeks to provide a new process 15. for the thermal reconcentration of glycol, using stripping gas, with which the disadvantages of the ~ormer processes operating with the us.e of stripping gas are avoided, i.e;
the use of dried natural gas as stripping gas and also the working up and recirculation of stripping gas and the 20. recirculation of hydrocarbon between absorption stage and regeneration stage are avoided.
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a process for reconcentrating a moist glycol, which results from contacting moist natural gas with a 25. glycol, which process comprises heating the moist glycol to a reconcentrating temperature in the range of from - .
..~ i S~6 about 100C to about 210C and maintaining the glycol at the reconcentrating temperature by heat exchange with a hot flue gas, and stripping the glycol with a dried flue gas.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a process for reconcentrating a moist glycol, which results from contacting moist natural gas with a glycol, cooling the treated natural gas sufficiently to cause condensation of hydrocarbons therefrom, separation of the condensate resulting from such cooling, and recovery of moist glycol resulting from the contacting step, which process comprises heating the moist glycol to a reconcentrating temperature in the range of from about 100C to about 210C and maintaining the glycol at the reconcentrating temperature by heat exchange with a hot flue has, and stripping the glycol with dried flue gas or with hydrocarbon-containing gas produced by expanding condensate from the separation step.
Flue gas is available in sufficient quantity from the reboiler, which serves for heating up the moist glycol to the reconcentration temperature of from about 100C to about 210C.
After drying, it consists essentially of inert gas, namely nitrogen, carbon dioxide and traces of o~ygen. On the other hand, the gas which is formed by expanding condensate from the separation step shows a high methane content and in addition contains higher gaseous hydrocarbons, such as ethane, propane, butane, etc. and possibly also hydrogen. This gas occurs as a by-product with the low-temperature treatment of pre-dried or undried natural gas; the use thereof as a 5a ~2~
stripping gas conse~uently does not decrease the production of the dried natural gas.
Whereas the moist glycol is concentrated from the initial concentration, which is for example at 95 to 96%
by weight glycol, up to about 99.0 to 99.2% by the thermal regeneration, a further concentration up to 99.99~ glycol achieved by the stripping with dry flue gas or hydrocarbon gas in accordance with the invention. It is advantageous ~2~

to work with 99.2 to 99.9% by weight glycol. The contact between the mois-t glycol and the stripping gas expediently takes place in counter-current, by whic'n lo~
residual water contents in the glycol are encouraged.
5. The stripping gas flowing in coun-ter-current to the moist glycol reduces the water vapour partial pressure above the partially regenerated glycol to a very low value.
This causes a shift in equilibrium between the gas phase and the liquid phase, so that additional water passes from 10. the partially regenerated glycol and into the gas phase and a very low water content remains in the glycol. The great redllction in the residual water content by counter-current stripping of a ~lycol which is alread~ thermally preconcentrated is due firstly to the favourable mass 15. trans~er between liquid phase and gas phase with the counter-current contact and secondly to the fact that the driving force of the wa-ter transition into the ~as phase, as a result of the injection of stripping gas, is greater when the major part o~ the ~ater contained in Ihe glycol 20. has already been previously removed by the action o~ heat.
The amount of stripping gas which is necessary depends on the residual water content of the gl~Tcol and stripping gas, the stripping gas temperature and the ef~ecti~eness of the contact between stripping gas and 25. glycol. Generally speaking, the amount of stripping gas when there is counter-current contact with glycol is in - . ~ .. .
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the range from about 4 Nm3 to about 100 Nm3 of stripping gas per cu. metre of glycol, advantageously in the range from about 15 Nm~ to about 50 Nm~ of stripping gas per cu. metre of glycol.
5. The hot flue gas is advantageously cooled to a temperature in the range from about +5C to about 75C, preferably about 20C to about 60C, dried by contact with glycol, and the dried flue gas is heated to a temperature in the range ~rom about 100C to about 210C
10. advantàgeously about 140C to about 210C, and then used as stripping gas for the reconcentration o~ the glyco~.
The hot flue ga`s from the reboiler, depending on the utilisation of heat therein, is generally available at a temperature from about 300C to about 600C, for example, 15. at about 500C. Since it generally originates from a burning of natural gas, it contains substantial amounts of water vapour, which prohibit the immediate use of the flue gas and must be dried before use as a stripping gas.
The flue gas is conse~uently first of all preferably dried 20. with glvcol, after having been cooled to a temperature in the range from about 25C to about 70~C. The drying is preferably effected in a small column, e.g. a plate-type column. The dried flue gas is then preferably heated and introduced from the bottom into the regeneration column. As 25. it rises in the regeneration column the flue gas becomes charged with water vapour and can be directly blown off into the atmosphere at the top of the column.

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1~22~6 The flue gas is preferably initially treated with the moist glycol ~rom -the natural gas drying operation and thereafter dried with a reconcentrated glycol cooled to a temperature in the range from about 20C to about 5. 80C, and the resulting moist glycol, after filtration and heating to a temperature in the range from about 100C
to about 210C, is reconcentrated. As a consequence of this two-stage drying of the flue gas with mois-t glycol and dried ~lycol, the consumption of dried glycol for 10. drying the flue gas is restricted to a minimum quantity, since the dried glycol is only used for the sensitive drying of the flue gas. The glycol from the two drying stages is subjected to a separation of solids, e.g. to a filtration, for the purpose of removing from the glycol 15. any solid impurities possibly washed out of the flue gas.
The glycol is then preheated in the usual way and supplied to the regeneration column.
~ later is advantageously removed by condensation from the ~lue gas with the cooling to abou-t 5C to about 20. 75C and it is separated from the flue gas. When the flue gas is subsequently dried with glycol, it is then only necessary for a correspondingly smaller quantity OI water to be removed from the flue gas, so tha-t the amount of water to be driven off in the regeneration of the glycol 25. is accordingly insignificantly increased.
A~ter ~he flue gas has been dried, it is expediently ,.

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heated by heat e~change with the hot flue gas. This heat exchange may take place directly in the reboiler or even in a heat exchanger, which is arran~ed in -the hot flue gas ~ipe downs-tream of the reboiler. The flue gas is 5. heated to such a high temperature that, firstly, it is 12 rege~ efafi~n 1_~ able in the.regnor~t~on of the glycol to absorb a maximurn amount of water vapour but secondly, the glycol is not thermally decomposed on contact wi-th the ho-t flue gas.
In so far as it is glycol which has been generally 10. referred to herein, what is primarily to be understood thereby is triethylene glycol. However, the process according to the invention may also be used in connection with other glycols, such as, for example, diethylene ~lycol (more particularly when using the glycol injection 15. method which is to be hereinafter referred to), tetra- ;
ethylene glycol and monoetnylene glycol.
In accordance with another procedure when carrying out the process in accordance wi-th the invention, the natural gas treated with glycol is cooled to a temperature 20. in the range of from about -40C to about ~5C, the con-densate thereby formed is separated from the dried natural gas, a part of the hydrocarbon phase of the condensate is expanded and the hydrocarbon gas present after the expansion is used as stripping gas in the reconcentration 25. of the glycol. The treatment of the natural gas with glycol can, for example, take place in a plate-type column, 10 .

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in which the t~a-ter vapour from -the natural gas is absorbed by dried glycol. However, the treatment with glycol may also be carried ou-t in such a way that the dried glycol is sprayed as a hydrate inhibitor into the flow of 5. natural gas and the water-containing glycol is again separated out after having been cooled to low temperature.
The condensate which forms with the cooling generally consis-ts of mois-t glycol and a liquid hydrocarbon phase.
The stripping gas is obtained by expansion of part o~ the 10. hydrocarbon phase. The volatile hydrocarbons, such as methane, ethane and propane, escape from the liquid hydro-carbon phase with the expansion and are practically free from moisture, since even with formation of an a~ueous condensate in the low temperature stage, the solubility 15. OI water in the hydrocarbon phase is extremely small, so that also the expansion gas is obtained in practically dry form.
The hydrocarbon phase is preferably expanded to a pressure t~hich is in the range from 1 to L~ atmospheres 20. absolute, i.e. to a pressure which is greater than the pressure of the glycol column at -the position of intro-duction of the stripping gas into the regeneration column.
It is obvious that an expansion to below 1 atmosphere absolute is also possible, if the regeneration column 25. is operated under vacuum.
The hydrocarbon gas is preferably heated to a 1 1 .

temperature in the range of from about 90C to about 210C
and it is then introduced as stripping gas into the regeneration column. As a result of heating the stripping gas, it is assured that, when the gas comes into contact with the moist glycol, a maximum quantity of moisture can be absorbed, so that a best possible drying action is produced. On the other hand, the temperature of the stripping gas is not so high that there is a partial decomposition of the glycol and hence the glycol has to be supplemented. The theoretical decomposition temperatures of triethylene glycol and diethylene glycol are > 207 and 165C, respectively.
Provision is further made for the condensate to be separated from the dried natural gas under a pressure in the ranqe from 20 to 80 atmospheres absolute, advantageously ~0 to 60 atmospheres absolute. This is the pipe line pressure under which the dried natural gas is delivered from the natural gas drying plant or installation. Since the liquid hydrocarbon phase is likewise under this pressure, it has consequently to be expanded from this pressure to somewhat higher than the operating pressure of the glycol regeneration column, so as to liberate the dissolved hydrocarbon gases and have them available at the pressure necessary for the stripping.
In accordance with one form of the process according to the invention, provision is made for water to be-----------------.

absorbed with dried ~lycol from the moist natural gasand for the natural gas to be cooled by heat exchange with the cooled natural gas and then with a low temperature refrigerant to a temperature in the range from -40C to 5. +5C. This low temperature separation o~ hydrocarbons, following the usual drying with glycol, is used with natural gas which contains a content of higher hydrocarbons ~mich cannot be disregarded, so that the danger exists of the temperature in the natural gas pipe lines falling below the 10. hydrocarbon dew point and of the hydrocarbons being sepa-rated out. The cooling of the natural gas to a temperature in the ran~e from -40C to ~5C necessitates the use of a refrigerating plant, but also ensures the separation of the hydrocarbons without expansion.
15. With another form of the process according to the invention, dried glycol is injected into the natural gas, which is somewhat below the well head pressure, the gas is cooled by heat exchange ~ith the dried natural gas expanded to pipe line pressure and then,by expansion to B 20. the pipel~pressure3 preferably to a pressure in the range of from about 20 atmospheres absolute to about 80 atmos-pheres absolute, to a temperature in the range from about -40C to about +5C, the moist glycol is separated from the hydrocarbon phase of the condensate and some of the 25. nydrocarbon phase is further expanded. ~Yith this form of the process, the considerable well head pressure of ~225

3 .

the natural gas of, for example, 80 atmospheres absolute and more, is utilised, and the natural gas is cooled to such an extent by the expansion from this pressure to the pipe line pressure that the liquid hydrocarbons and 5. water condense and are separated. The moist glycol is separated from the hydrocarbon phase and is supplied to the glycol regeneration stage. Some of the hydrocarbon phase is expanded to a pressure somewhat higher than the glycol regeneration pressure and the hydrocarbon gas 10. phase which is thereby formed is used, after heating, as stripping gas with the regeneration of glycol.
In order that the invention may be clearly under~
stood and readily carried into effect some preferred processes in accordance therewith will now be described, 15. by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:- -Figure 1 represents a first embodiment of the process according to the invention, using flue gas in the regeneration column;
20. Figure 2 represents a second embodiment o~ the process according to the invention, with hydrocarbon separation by low temperature cooling subsequent to the 1) R t~
drying of the fluc gas and the use of hydrocarbon gas as stripping gas; and 25. Figure 3 represents a third embodiment of the process according to the invention, with injection of 14.

glycol and expansion of the flow of natural gas and the use of hydrocarbon gas as stripping gas.
Referring to Figure 1 of the drawings, moist natural gas is introduced through a pipe or conduit 1 into an 5. absorption column 2 and is dried in the latter in counter~
current with glycol supplied through a pipe 4. The dried natural gas leaves the column 2 by way of a pipe 5. The moist glycol initially passes from the column 2 and through a pipe 6 to the central section of a ~lue gas 10. drying column 7, to which cooled flue gas is supplied to the bottom end thereof through a pipe 9. The water vapour saturated flue gas is first of all pre-washed and pre-dried in the bottom section of the column with the moist glycol.
It then flows into the top section of the column 7 and is 15. thoroughly dried therein with dried glycol which is supplied through a pipe 4a. The dried cold flue gas is then forced by means of a blower 10 through a pipe 11 and ~ra~g e~ ;~
. ~ a heater 12a ~ the reboiler 12 and then through a pipe 13 into the glycol regenera-tion column 14.
20. The moist glycol discharging from the bottom of the flue gas drying column 7 is freed from solid impurities in the filter 15 and then passes through a pipe 16 into a heat exchanger 17 at the top of the column 14 and to the heat exchanger 18, in which the glycol is preheated 25. approximately to the regeneration tempera-ture. The moist glycol is then fed into the middle section of the column ~%~
15.

14. For maintaining the temperature in the column 14, some of the partially regenerated glycol is drawn off through a pipe 19, conducted through a heat exchanger 12b arranged in the reboiler 12 and fed back into the chamber 14a of the column 14. In the heat exchanger 12b, the temperature of the glycol is raised, for example, from 175C to 200C. The partially regenerated glycol as thus heated passes into the separate chamber 14a in the sump of the column 14, whereas the component or partial flow conducted from the column 14 to the heat exchanger 12b is drawn off outside the said chamber, so that it is not possible to have a direct mixing of relatively cold and heated glycol in the sump of the column 14. The dry, heated flue gas introduced through the pipe 13 into the chamber 14a becomes charged or loaded with water vapour as it ascends through the column 14. Glycol vapours and droplets are separated out from the gas flow by the heat exchanger 17 and the droplet separator 2~. The moist flue gas leaves the column 14 by way of the chimney 21 to enter the atmosphere.
The dried glycol leaves the column 14 at the base of the chamber 14a, is subjected to heat exchange wit~ the moist glycol in the heat e~changer 18 and is thereafter cooled in the condenser 22 to the working temperature of the absorption columns 2 and 7 and then supplied to the said columns by way of the pipes 4 and 4a, respectively. The flue gas which is used for the stripping is withdrawn from the chimney of the reboiler 12 at a temperature of,---------------------------------------~--.

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16.

for example, 500C and is supplied through pipe 9 to the fluegas drying column 7, Arranged in the pipe 9 is a condensor 23, in which the flue gas is cooled, for example, from 500 C to a temperature in the range of from 40C to 50C. The water thereby extracted by condensation is drawn off at 24.
As regards the embodiment which is represented in Figure 2 of the drawings, those parts of the installation which correspond to the parts in Figure l are given the same reference numerals. The moist natural gas enters the absorption column 2 at l and is dried in said column with dried glycol which is supplied by way of the pîpe 4. The moist glycol discharging at the base of the column 2 passes via the pipe 6 and the heat exchanger 18 to the central section of the regeneration column 14. The dried natural gas leaving the head of the column 2 passes by way of the pipe 5 to a heat exchanger 35, in which the gas is cooled by heat exchange with the cold gas, and then to a heat exchanger 25, in which it is cooled to, for example, -40 C to +5 C, by a refrigerant introduced through a pipe 26. In the following vessel 27, the hydrocarbon condensate is separated from the natural gas, which now shows a low water vapour and hydrocarhon dew point, and is withdrawn through a pipe 28. The liquid hydrocarbon condensate flows from the vessel 27 by way of a pipe 33 into the separator 29. Some of the liquid hydrocarbons are expanded by a pressure-regulating valve 34 to a pressure which is somewhat above the working 'X- ~

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17.
pressure of the column 14. The gaseous hydrocarbons escape from the hydrocarbon condensate and flow through a pipe 30 to a heat exchanger 31, in which they are heated to the working temperature of the column 14, and then into the chamber 14a o~
the column 14. The dry, heated hydrocarbon gas ascends in the column 14, becomes charged with steam and escapes through the chimney 21 into the atmosphere, a~ter entrained droplets of glycol have been kept back in the drop separator 20. The heating of the glycol of the column 14 is achieved, in the same manner as wit~ the embodiment of Figure 1, in a reboiler (not shown), which is connected by the pipes 19 to the regeneration column 14. The hydrocarbon liquid remaining in the separator 29 is drawn off as a by-product through a pipe 32.
With the embodiment which is represented in Figure 3, dried glycol supplied through the pipe 4 is injected as hydrate inhibitor into the natural gas which is in the pipe 1 and is below the well head pressure. Thereafter, the mixture flows through the heat exchanger 35, in which it is cooled by heat exchange with the cold dried natural gas expanded to pipeline pressure. Tne mixture is then cooled by further expansion to pipeline pressure at the throttle valve 36 to a temperature in the range from -40C to +5C. Moist glycol and hydrocarbon condensate are separated in the separator vessel 27. The natural ~ .
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gas leaves the separator 27 with a very low water vapour content and hydrocarbon content by way of the pipe 28, is e~h~se~
pre-heated in the heat a~ohebnge 35 and is then discharged from the installation.
5. The moist glycol is withdrawn fro~ the separator 27 through the pipe 6, is heated in the heat exchanger 18 to the working temperature of the regeneration column 14 and is then supplied to the central section o~^- this column. The hydrocarbon liquid passes from the separator 10. 27 by way o~ a pipe 33 into a collector 29, in which the gas pressure is relaxed by the reducing valve 34 to some-~hat above the working pressure of the regeneration column 14. The gaseous hydrocarbons thus escape from the liquid phase and are introduced through a pipe 30 as stripping 15. gas into the chamber 14a of the regeneration column 14, after having been heated in the heat exchanger 31. The hydrocarbon phase which has remained liquid in the collector 29 is drawn off through a pipe 32. The stripping gas ascending in the column 14 becomes charged 20. with water vapour,is freed in the drop separator 20 from entrained glycol droplèts and leaves the column via the chimney 21. The temperature in the column 14 is main-tained by the fact that the glycol is circulated through a reboiler (not sho~n)~ which is connected to the 25. regeneration column 14 by the pipes 19. The dried glycol is withdra~n from the bottom OI the chamber 14a through 19 .

the pipe 4, in which the heat exchanger 18 is arranged, is again fed to the na-tural gas pipe 1 and is injected thereinto. The invention will be further illustrated by reference to the i`ollowing Examples 1 to 3.
5. Ex~mple 1:
In order to dry 1 . 106 Nm3/d of natural gas~ which is supplied at 50 atmospheres absolute and 38C and is ~ er vap~
-3 saturated with stoam-, to a dew point of -24C, it is brought at 38C into contact with 99.7% triethylene 10. glycol. 1.9 m3/h of glycol are circulated through the absorption column. 240 Nm3/h of flue gas are cooled to 40C and as a result 29 kg/h of water are separated out.
Thereafter, the flue gas pre-dried in this way is pre-scrubbed with the 1.9 m3/h of 97% triethylene glycol 15. discharging from the absorption column and is then thoroughly dried with 0.38 m3/h of dried glycol. After being heated to 200C, the flue gas which has been dried in this ~ay is used as stripping gas in the regeneration of the moist glycol coming from the flue gas drying 20. stage and in a quanti-ty of about 120 Nm3 of flue gas per cubic metre of glycol. The regeneration temperature is 200C. ~ m3/h of 99.7~' triethylene glycol are extracted from the regeneration stage.
Exam~ie 2:
25. 3 9 . 106 Nm3/d of natural gas are dried with 7.4 m3/h of 99.796 triethylene glycol. The 97%

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20.

triethylene glycol discharging ~rom the absorption stage is regenerated after heating at a temperature of 200C. The natural gas from the absorption stage is cooled by heat exchange with a refrigerant to -24C.
5. 11,200 kg/h of hydrocarbon condensate are separated out in a separator, while at the same time 160,000 Nm3/h of natural gas are delivered into the long-distance pipe.
An amount of hydrocarbon condensate is expanded from the condensation pressure of 65 atmospheres absolute to 10. 1.2 atmospheres absolute ~uch that 700 Nm3/h of hydro-carbon gas, after heating to 200C, can be introduced into the regeneration column as a stripping gas in a quantity of about 9.5 Nm3/m3 of glycol. At the same time, there remain, after the expansion, 10,600 kg/h of 15. liquid hydrocarbons, which can be supplied as required for stabilisation purposes. The regenerated glycol obtained when using hydrocarbon gas as stripping gas has a concentration of 99.7% and returns into the absorption stage.
20. Example 3.
200,000 Nm~/h of nàtural gas, under a pressure o~`
130 atmospheres absolute, have 600 kg/h o~ 99.7% tri-ethylene glycol added thereto as hydrate inhibitor and are pre-cooled to 0C. The gas is then expanded to 65 25. atmospheres absolute, 600 kg/h of triethylene glycol and 14,000 kg/h of liquid hydrocarbons separating out. The 2~
21.

moist triethylene glycol is regenerated after heating to 200C. After separating out the mois-t glycol, such a quantity of hydrocarbon liquid is expanded from 65 atmospheres absolute to 1.2 atmos~heres absolu-te -tha-t 5. 200 Nm3/h of hydrocarbon gas are obtained, which are introduced as stripping gas into the regeneration column after having been heated to 200C. After the par-tial expansion, there remain 1~,870 kg/h of hydrocarbons, ~Jhich are stored and supplied as re~uired for stabili-10. sation. The regenerated triethylene glycol has aconcentration of ~ 99.7~ and is used afresh for injection into the flow of natural gas.

Claims

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED AS DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. A process for reconcentrating a moist glycol, which results from contacting moist natural gas with a glycol, which process comprises heating the moist glycol to a reconcentrating temperature in the range of from about 100°C to about 210°C and maintaining the glycol at the reconcentrating temperature by heat exchange with a hot flue gas, and stripping the glycol with a dried flue gas.

2. A process according to claim 1, in which hot flue gas is cooled to a temperature in the range of from about +5°C to about 75°C and is dried by contact with glycol, and resulting dried flue gas is heated to a temperature in the range of from about 100°C to about 300°C and is then used as stripping gas for reconcentration.

3. A process according to claim 2, in which the hot flue gas is cooled to a temperature in the range of from about 20°C to about 60°C.

4. A process according to claim 2, in which the dried flue gas is heated to a temperature of from about 140°C to about 210°C.

5. A process according to claim 2, in which water condenses from the flue gas upon cooling to a temperature in the range of from about +5°C to about 75°C and is separated therefrom.

6. A process according to claim 1, in which the dried flue gas is obtained by initially treating a flue gas with moist glycol from the drying of natural gas and thereafter drying the flue gas with reconcentrated glycol cooled to a temperature of from about 20°C to about 80°C and in which resulting moist glycol is reconcentrated after filtration and heating to a temperature in the range of from about 100°C to about 210°C.

7. A process according to any one of claims 1, 2 or 6, in which the dried flue gas is heated by heat exchange with hot flue gas.

8. A process for reconcentrating a moist glycol, which results from contacting moist natural gas with a glycol, cooling the treated natural gas sufficiently to cause condensation of hydrocarbons therefrom, separation of the condensate resulting from such cooling, and recovery of moist glycol resulting from the contacting step, which process comprises heating the moist glycol to a reconcentrating temperature in the range of from about 100°C to about 120°C and maintaining the glycol at the reconcentrating temperature by heat exchange with a hot flue gas, and stripping the glycol with dried flue gas or with hydrocarbon-containing gas produced by expanding condensate from the separation step.

9. A process according to claim 8, in which natural gas which has been treated with glycol is cooled to a temperature in the range of from about -40°C to about +5°C, in which resulting condensate is separated from the dried natural gas, and in which part of the hydrocarbon phase of the condensate is expanded to provide the hydrocarbon-containing gas used for stripping moist glycol.

10. A process according to claim 9, in which the part of the hydrocarbon phase that is expanded is expanded to a pressure in the range of from about 1 atmosphere absolute to about 4 atmospheres absolute.

11. A process according to claim 9, in which hydrocarbon-containing gas used for stripping is heated to a temperature in the range of from about 90°C to about 210°C and is then used as stripping gas.

12. A process according to claim 9, in which separation of condensate from dried natural gas is effected under a pressure of from about 20 atmospheres absolute to about 80 atmospheres absolute.

13. A process according to claim 12, in which separation of condensate from dried natural gas is effected at a pressure of from about 40 atmospheres absolute to about 60 atmospheres absolute.

14. A process according to claim 9, in which water is absorbed with dried glycol from the moist natural gas and the natural gas is then cooled by heat exchange with the cooled natural gas and then with a low temperature refrigerant to a temperature in the range of from about -40°C to about +5°C.

15. A process according to claim 9, in which dried glycol is injected with the natural gas which is somewhat below well head pressure, the gas is cooled to a temperature in the range of from about -40°C to about +5°C by heat exchange with dried natural gas expanded to pipe line pressure and then by expansion to pipe line pressure, moist glycol is separated from the hydrocarbon phase of the condensate, and part of the hydrocarbon phase is further expanded.

16. A process for drying a moist natural gas which comprises contacting the moist natural gas in a contact zone with a glycol, recovering dried natural gas, reconcentrating resulting moist glycol by a process according to any one of claims 1, 2 and 9 and recycling resulting reconcentrated glycol to the contact zone.